Canal-boat



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

J. E. GIBSON, OF PORT CARBON, PENNSYLVANIA.

CANAL-BOAT.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,944, dated July 20, 1858.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES E. GIBSON, of Port Carbon, in the county of Schuylkill and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Canal- Boats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a perspective view of a canal boat constructed with my improvement. Fig. 2, is a vertical longitudinal section of the same. F ig. 3, is a vertical transverse section of the same.

Similar letters of refereence in each of the several figures indicate corresponding parts.

The object of my invention is to avoid the inconvenience experienced in canal boats from the stern sinking down, owing to the weight of the engine &c., below the bow, and thus throwing the boat ofi' of an even keel when the load is removed from the bow portion. The difficulty adverted to being the blowing around by the wind of the bow portion of the boat and the consequent impossibility very often of keeping the boat in a direct course.

The nature of my invention consists in constructing a canal. boat in two parts, when each of said parts has a bow and keel, and both so arranged and coupled together that each shall have an up and down movement independently of one another, and thus when the bow portion is not weighted it shall be capable of rising without apecting the stern portion, and when it has risen to its full ex tent, it and the stern portion shall rest upon the water with even keels, the keel of one being below the keel of the other, and the stern portion serving as a ballast to the bow portion. By this arrangement the boat when loaded to its proper capacity will have, what might with propriety be termed, one continuous keel from bow to stern, but when the boat is not loaded, it will have two short keels on which it will lie horizontally in the water, the keel of the stern portion being lower than the keel of the bow portion; the weight of the engine causing the keel of the stern portion to descend even lower than it lies in the water when the boat is loaded while for want of an equal weight in the bow portion, theA keel of said portion rises horizontally considerably higher than it lies in the water when the boat is loaded.

To enable others, skilled in the art, to make and use my invention, I will proceed to de scribe its construction and operation.

A, represents the bow and B, the stern portion of the boat. The bow portion A, is very similar in form to said portion of ordinary canal boats with the exception of a V or other similar recess C, being cut in it from top to bottom at the point of junction between A, and B. The stern portion is furnished with a bow D, and keel a, the former fitting or matching t-he recess C, in the bow portion A, and the latter forming a detached continuation of the keel Z2, of said portion of the boat.

The bow portion of the boat is furnished with dovetail or other vertical grooves 0, o, which extend from its top to within a short distance of its bottom, while the stern portion is furnished with dovetail or other tongues (Z, (Z, which lit the grooves and couple the two portions A, B, together. A further lateral coupling of the parts together is effected by lips g, g, on the stern portion, overlapping the joint betweeen the two portions A, B, as shown. It will be observed that the tongues and grooves allow a free up and down movement of the parts in the manner illustrateed by the dotted lines B. It will also be observed that there is no chance of the stern portion uncoupling from the bow portion by descending too far as the grooves act at stops at f, f.

I claim In combination with canal boats made in two parts-so coupling the parts together that each shall have an up and down movement independently of one another substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

JAMES E. GIBSON.

lVitnesses: A

Gr. YoExE AT LEE, H. H. YOUNG. 

